Starved Rock Lodge & Conference Center

seemed like we were fighting them to stick to it. It's a good idea to have several people (including your DJ and any other vendors) who know what the timeline and plan is and can help correct when things go awry. The things I wish I'd known: (1) You have to clean everything out of the hall by 11pm after the wedding. This means you and your guests will spend the night after your wedding moving things and packing. (It does say this in the contract, but it's still a rough way to end a wedding night.) (2) They do not stick to the same schedule they ask you to. For example, they tried to start the dinner 15 minutes early because we were out of hors d'oeuvres, despite that we had a violinist there until cocktail hour ended and people were enjoying themselves. (3) It states in the contract that they will have you cut your cake at the start of dinner and serve it alongside the dinner (cake is in the dining room so then your guests will see the cake for maybe 5 minutes before you start dinner, making me curious why anyone would ever decorate a cake to do this with) OR that you need to provide your own plates and cut it yourself. So we went with cupcakes and a very small cake and provided our own disposable plates. Despite this someone tried to cut the cake before dinner anyways, then argued with the guests and DJ about that they absolutely needed to do it anyways. AND the waitstaff then told the guests as they served dinner to go grab a cupcake when they were done, before we cut the cake. (Fortunately my mother saw this happening and stood next to the cake for 1/2 of dinner telling people we were of course waiting until the cake was cut) I was very confused about why the site wedding coordinator came over during dinner to tell us it would happen as planned. They didn't mention that you also have to provide your own forks, so our guests who opted for the cake were eating it with their hands. Some of the guests asked about it and were told we would have needed to pay extra for forks (Which of course I would have, or would have bought forks, but this was never brought up or given as an option. Why someone from the venue would interupt dinner to tell me things would go as planned but not to ask if we'd like to pay for forks I don't understand), and they cleared away dinner a bit early so they guests didn't have the forks from dinner. I'm gratful to my family and guests that they handled that on their own and didn't add stress for me, but it all seems like it was very unnecessary. (4) We didn't have a wedding party, but one of my best friends helped me get dressed and left her car keys in the Hennepin Room. She asked the staff to let her back in so she could grab her car keys and they would not let her, and would not retrieve them for her, which left us outside unaware of what was going on, and another friend fortunately drove us to take pictures. They only ask for a list of the wedding party, and I didn't realize it was for this, so be sure to list absolutely anyone you want to be allowed into the room. Overall it was beautiful and the guests couldn't tell anything had gone wrong. If I were choosing again though I'd pick a place that seemed excited to celebrate my wedding and make it special for us, not one where any requests felt like I was being obnoxious.

a very positive experience and the communication was great. All our guests had a great time and many made a weekend of it and came down early to enjoy the hiking and amenities of the hotel. Would highly recommend as a micro destination wedding!

day of our ceremony! The food was delicious, the wedding site was gorgeous, and the entire package was so affordable!! If you are looking for a place that feels like nostalgic summer camp, we recommend!